USA: Bush Intervenes in Port Lockoutby Andrea Shalal-Esa, ReutersOctober 7th, 2002President Bush took the first step on Monday toward forcing an end to a lockout at West Coast ports, citing concerns about the fragile U.S. economy, but top Democrats and union officials blasted the move as heavy-handed and demonstrating anti-labor bias.

US: Dockworker Lockout Shuts Down West Coastby George Raine and Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco ChronicleOctober 3rd, 2002West Coast dockworkers and the shippers who employ them agreed to federal mediation Wednesday, providing a glimmer of hope in the bitter labor lockout that has paralyzed trade at 29 ports from Seattle to San Diego.

US: Sweatshop Case Settles for $20Mby Alexei Oreskovic, The RecorderSeptember 27th, 2002Three overseas sweatshop lawsuits involving dozens of the United States' largest retailers and a 30,000-member class of garment workers have settled for $20 million.

USA: What About Corporate Terrorism?by David Moberg, NewsdayAugust 23rd, 2002Until 1998 Sherri Bufkin happily worked as a manager for Smithfield Foods in Tar Heel, N.C. But in 1997, when workers in the giant meatpacking plant there began to organize a union, her superiors - she has testified - forced her to join their campaign to "do whatever was necessary to keep [the union] out."

Burkina Faso: Thousands March Against Privatisation and for Higher WagesUN Integrated Regional Information NetworksJuly 18th, 2002Thousands of workers went on strike on Thursday and marched through the main streets of Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, to protest against privatisations and to press demands for salary increases. The procession and strike were organised by the country's trade unions.

WORLD: New Survey Shows 2001 Grim for Trade Unionsby Jim Lobe, OneWorld USJune 18th, 2002Labor unions around the world faced a difficult year in 2001 due both to direct and sometimes violent repression, as well as the continuing pursuit by major multinational corporations of cheap labor in poor countries, according to the latest in a series of annual reports by the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

Football Dreams Stitched with Children's HandsGlobal March Against Child LabourMay 30th, 2002Child labour and highly unfair labour conditions for adult stitchers in the football industry are still common practices, despite the fact that the contracts between FIFA and sporting goods companies promise the opposite. This was revealed by the Global March Against Child Labour in a presentation of three new reports on China, India and Pakistan.

Taiwan: Workers Link Cancer to RCA Plantby Matthew Yi, San Francisco ChronicleMay 24th, 2002While many laud the globalization of technology as a positive force that spreads the wealth and helps industry grow, a group of Taiwanese workers came to Silicon Valley Thursday to tell a different story.

US: Prisoners Go to Work for Dellby Drew Cullen, The Register (UK)May 19th, 2002Dell rose to the top by cutting more corners than its rivals. The PC giant is cutting another corner by employing prisoners to handle its new consumer recycling scheme in the US.

US: Court Says Nike Must Defend its PRby Harriet Chiang, San Francisco ChronicleMay 3rd, 2002The California Supreme Court delivered a stiff warning to businesses Thursday, ruling that a San Francisco man can sue Nike Inc. for false advertising for allegedly lying about working conditions at Asian factories where its athletic shoes and clothes are made.

US: Mine Workers Chief Arrested at Massey Energy ProtestEnvironment News ServiceMarch 15th, 2002United Mine Workers president Cecil Roberts was one of 11 people arrested Thursday at the site of a huge coal sludge spill as they demonstrated against the environmental performance of Massey Energy.

US: Gap Admits Strategic Errors After $34m Lossby Mariko Sanchanta and Lina Saigol, Financial TimesFebruary 27th, 2002Millard ''Mickey'' Drexler, Gap's chief executive, on Tuesday admitted that the company had ''misread fashion tea leaves'' and violated its own principle of ''keeping things simple'' in making a series of fashion mistakes that led to its reporting a $34m loss.

INDONESIA: Running From Reebok's Hypocrisyby Alexander Cockburn, Los Angeles TimesFebruary 7th, 2002Right till the end of January, Dita Sari was preparing to fly from her home near Jakarta to Salt Lake City to bask today in the admiration of assorted do-gooders and celebrities mustered by Reebok. The occasion is the 13th annual Human Rights Awards, overseen by a board that includes Jimmy Carter and Kerry Kennedy Cuomo.

US: Bush Bans Unions at Justice Departmentby Steven Greenhouse, The New York TimesJanuary 16th, 2002Invoking security concerns, President Bush has issued an executive order barring union representation at United States attorneys' offices and at four other agencies in the Justice Department.

TAIWAN: Businesses Said to Run Sweatshops In Central Americaby Andrew Perrin, San Francisco ChronicleAugust 15th, 2001This island nation has long been famed for its transformation from a developing country to an industrial colossus. But a recent labor dispute at a Taiwanese-owned textile factory in impoverished Nicaragua has cast a spotlight on what U.S. activists say is Taiwan's least admired export: labor rights abuses.

US: Nike Capitalizes on the Anti-Capitalistsby Alicia Rebensdorf, AlterNetAugust 7th, 2001An angry mob gathered around a train station, passing out photocopied flyers and shouting protests against an unjust company. Scrappy stickers were slapped on billboards, directing passers-by to a crudely designed website. The company they were railing against was a frequent target of grassroots activism: Nike. And the group running this guerilla-style anti-advertising campaign? None other than Nike itself.

US: Chocolate Firms Fight 'Slave Free' Labelsby Sumana Chatterjee, Philadelphia InquirerAugust 1st, 2001The proposed legislation is a response to a Knight Ridder Newspapers investigation that found some boys as young as 11 are sold or tricked into slavery to harvest cocoa beans in Ivory Coast, a West African nation that supplies 43 percent of U.S. cocoa. The State Department estimates that as many as 15,000 child slaves work on Ivory Coast's cocoa, cotton and coffee farms. The House of Representatives passed the labeling initiative, 291-115, in late June, and the measure awaits Senate action.

MEXICO: Economic Downturn Deepensby Chris Kraul, Los Angeles TimesJuly 1st, 2001From farms and automotive plants on the outskirts of Mexico City to the industrial heartland of Monterrey and the wineries and electronics firms in Tijuana and Guadalajara, signs are that this nation's recession is becoming more entrenched.